"It
is strange that the Jammu and Kashmir government has no policy for
Dalits and the scavenging community. After much persuasion they are
placed among the Scheduled Caste category and in the sixth place
yet, when the question of reservation comes, they never get any
opportunity in the government. And therefore despite a huge
population of about several lakhs, it would be a rare to see Wattal
community person outside their traditional occupation."

Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Ashaq Ali Wattal hails from a
community which has the sole ‘right’ to clean the toilets in
Jammu and
Kashmir. Hailing from Doda, Wattal moans at the
continuous negligence by the state government and its
authorities towards the community of manual scavengers in Jammu
and Kashmir. His father was a manual scavenger working with
municipality but now has left the work and does bamboo work.
Ashaq has passed 10th standard and does electric work
in his town. He was in Delhi to speak about his people and the
discrimination they face in their daily life. According to
Wattal, nobody wants to keep relations with us though there is
no discrimination in the mosque during the Namaz.

Despite, living in a Muslim dominated
Kashmir it is strange that those who talk about no-discrimination in
Islam never ever thought that this issue needs immediate attention. Why
has there been no movement among the Muslims to fight for the rights of
the Muslim Dalits. A continuous denial will not work in this regard.

Wattal says that his father
used to work part time in the municipality and could not get Rs 1,000/-
a month when he retired from his job. His maternal aunt Misha Begum
worked with a government hospital for over 40 years and her daily
routine is from early morning till afternoon yet at the moment she gets
just Rs 700/- per month. The problem with most of the Wattals is that
they are forced to this work as there is no other opportunity available
for them. The payments are below the norm at the maximum for part time
work. As sweeper you still get Rs. 200/- per month in the government and
between Rs 300 and Rs 500/- per month in private.

It is strange that the Jammu and Kashmir
government has no policy for these people. After much persuasion they
are placed among the Scheduled Caste category and in the sixth place
yet, when the question of reservation comes, they never get any
opportunity in the government. And therefore despite a huge population
of about several lakhs, it would be a rare to see Wattal community
person outside their traditional occupation.

Ashaq has three sons and he is determined
to educate them. In fact two of them are in the University. The fight
for social justice and dignity continues. Shahid Hussain had difficult
time. He used to work as sweeper but never accepted his defeat. He
passed his 10th standard and got a job in a Nationalized
Bank. With his determination he completed his graduation and is now
working as an office assistant in the bank. For him, it was difficult
but he could do it. There is no reservation for us, he says. The pain
reflects in his eyes as he narrates the story of struggle of his family.

According to a report submitted to the
Supreme Court by Safai Karmchari Andolan, there are 7.94 lakhs open
latrines in the country and apart from Uttar-Pradesh and Tamilnadu,
Jammu & Kashmir is one of the biggest violators in this regard where
1,78,330 households need manual scavenging. But the latest figures from
J& K government suggest that out of total 1,60,804 Households in the
rural areas over 1,49,492 depend on manual scavenging which shows the
status of ‘development’ in Kashmir. Out of total 5,17,168 urban
households, 17,768 houses depend on manual scavenging.

According to reports, Shopian, Kupwara,
Bandipur, Srinagar, Kulgaum, Anantnag, Ganderbal and Pulwama have very
large number of dry latrines which need manual scavengers to clean them.
And as Ashaq Wattal says, all of them who are engaged in the manual
scavenging task are Muslims. This exposes the hypocrisy of those so
called Jehadis who talk so much about fighting against others and bring
in place an ‘Islamic state’, but never really bothered about the
conditions of the Muslims Dalits. Why has such a large population not
got any legal right from the government of India?

It is sad that the elimination of manual
scavenging practices bill has not yet come in the parliament. The
political parties can get consensus on everything they want to get
through but when the question of dignity of the manual scavenging
communities comes, they remain suspect as they never cared for that.
Today, if the bill is passed and makes the rehabilitation part of the
process including alternative job reservation for them, how are the
Muslim manual scavengers going to be benefited from that? Secondly,
whether the act would be implemented in Kashmir or not as it is always a
problem that all central acts have to be separately developed in
Kashmir? What will the J & K government propose to eliminate this crime
against humanity? Will it rehabilitate the people and provide them
alternative employment? Most importantly, what do the ‘thekedars’
(contractors) of Islam say on this issue? All those who suggest we have
a better alternative in religion must answer these questions.

Dalits remained Dalits in most of the
religions though, unlike brahmanical system, the other religions opened
a little window for them in terms of their worshipping pattern. They can
go to mosque without being discriminated but the same is not true about
Christian Dalits who face discrimination from the upper caste Christians
even in the churches. If the Centre is making a law against elimination
of manual scavenging practices or even if a law is enacted for
reservation in Promotion, the Muslim and Christian dalits would not be
able to get any benefit of the reservation. It violates the basic
principle of equality without any religious prejudices. Therefore it is
important that benefits of reservation or rehabilitation must
incorporate all the Dalits in diverse communities. The issue of Dalit
identity and their discrimination became the tool for religious
propagandists too who wish to fight it on the basis of their ‘religious’
beliefs and provide ‘liberation’ theology for it.

The fact is the brahmanical
practices of discrimination have penetrated deeply into the other
religions and beliefs also and made them more ruthless in their attitude
towards the Dalits. The conditions of Dalit in the Muslim dominated
areas remain a matter of great shame and a bigger concern today. The
movements for their ‘azadi’ has not reached inside the closed quarters
where the Islamic zealots are ready to fight for everything in the name
of their identity but have found little time to wage a war against
untouchability and caste system inside their four walls even when
arguments were pushed forward by many people who felt that religious
conversion is the best bet to escape caste discrimination.

The manual scavenging communities must be
rehabilitated without being discriminated on the basis of their
religious identities as they do not merely exist in Jammu and Kashmir
but elsewhere also including Uttar-Pradesh, Bihar, Bengal, Andhra
Pradesh , Karnataka , Punjab, Haryana and Tamilnadu too. It is also
important that the fight for the Pasmanda Muslims and their rights must
begin at home itself. It is easier to suggest that there is liberation
of Dalits in religion but at the end, when we investigate their
socio-cultural conditions, it is open secret that caste virus continues
there too and the discrimination level remains the same. Just being
proud because your religion allowed them in Mosque and churches will not
be sufficed for their survival and dignity. War against untouchability
transcends nation, state, caste and religious boundaries. It is time we
all join hands against this crime against humanity to eliminate it
completely from the planet. Jammu and Kashmir government must come clean
on it and take the issue of untouchability and manual scavenging on a
wider scale so that all of them are rehabilitated. It is important that,
to eliminate manual scavenging, the government must provide the eligible
youth with employment in the non-sanitary works and rehabilitate them
completely. Why have the Jehadis of Islam kept quiet on these issues
even when it is a routine to see the Wattals in Kashmir work? Let them
raise a Jehad against untouchability and manual scavenging in Kashmir.
We will be with them in their fight for dignity of Manual scavengers in
Jammu and Kashmir. We cannot leave our Kashmiri friends isolated and
hence will definitely join their struggle for dignity and self-respect.

[Author is a freethinker,
a humanist and human rights activist running an organisation 'Social
Development Foundation'.]